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Tuesday, 10 April 2012

K is for Kirk Sessions Records, Kathleen and a Kettle - A to Z Genealogical Challenge

Ros at http://genwestuk.blogspot.com/ has come up with the idea of an A to Z genealogical challenge for the month of April. It soon got me thinking, so here are my contributions.

Kirk Session Records of the Church of Scotland give us a fascinating glimpse of the past, beyond citing just names and places.

The Kirk duties were to maintain good order amongst its congregation, including

administering discipline and supervising the moral and religious condition of the parish. It also took a keen interest in irregular marriages, welfare and religious observance. So stories abound in the Kirk Session Records of offences such as drunkenness, swearing, breaking the Sabbath, quarrelling, sexual misdemeanours and accusations of witchcraft - alongside charitable activities, poor relief and mortcloth records.

For the family historian kirk session records, which date from the 1600's, can provide a unique social commentary on the community in which ancestors lived.

Kathleen Weston, nee Danson (1908-1999) - my mother was the seocnd daughter of William Danson and Alice English of Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire and the subject of many a blog posting. "Happiness in Stitching" could be my mother's motto. For her going into a fabric shop was like going into a jewellery shop. If she sat down, she was rarely without a needle in her hand. She was a creator in patchwork, crochet, collage, felt work, smocking, knitting, embroidery, smocking, dolls and dresses, with dabbles into millinery, lampshade making and china painting.

Kettle - I remember this copper kettle sitting in the hearth of my grandfather's house and was always led to believe it was his mother's - my great grandmother Maria Danson, nee Rawcliffe (1859-1919). I was abolutely delighted when it eventually passed down to me.

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About Me

I have been interested in family history for years. It all began when I was allowed as a child to look through the old family photographs and memorabilia kept in a shoebox in the cupboard at my grandfather's house. That treat started me on a fascinating ancestral trail.